The Magic in Auroras

One of the most awe-inspiring natural phenomena on earth is the light display of aurora in the polar regions. Aurora borealis (the northern lights) is highly visible in Iceland, Norway, Greenland, Alaska or any other northern-latitude country, and aurora australis (the southern lights) can be seen from high southern latitudes in Antarctica, South America, or Australasia.

The collisions between the solar wind particles streaming from the sun and the charged particles from the earth’s magnetic field cause energy releases in the form of auroras to appear in large rings around the poles.

Although the appearances of auroras are all year round, they are only visible closer to the poles due to the longer periods of darkness and the earth’s magnetic field. The aurora could appear either as a ghastly glow in the night sky or as "curtains" that unfold in the east-west direction.

The range of color light emissions depends on the composition, the density of the atmosphere and the altitude of the aurora. Besides green, the most common color, you can also see pink, red, yellow, blue and even purple.

Auroras are more frequent and brighter due to the intensity of the solar wind when the sunspot activities and coronal flares are at their maximum. Nearing its 11th year solar cycle, the sun is about to reach its solar maximum in 2012.

Let this beautiful magic of nature inspire you as it has done so to so many photographers, artists and writers for years! Make it a "Must See" in 2012!

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Away with cold and gloom in winter!

In winter, it can be rather gloomy when the world outside is frozen and gray. The lack of sunlight combined with being stuck indoors makes it more dismal.  But there are ways to chase the cold and dreariness away while making your home or private space cozier and more cheerful.

1.    Highlight a spot in the room with a vase of freshly cut flower blooms in bright colors. Nowadays, flowers can be bought all year round in nurseries.

2.    Light up your room by drawing open your curtains to let in the full light reflection from the snow outside. This can save your electricity bill.

3.    Keep fire burning in the fireplace to warm the room. The dancing orange flames make the room brighter and  more cheerful.

4.    Invest in light bulbs that provide a natural glow by filtering out yellow rays to make your room more cheerful and inviting.

5.    Use scented candles that remind you of spring and summer.

6.    Make a comfortable seat by covering it with a blanket made of extra soft fleece and position it next to a lamp with a room enhancing light bulb.

7.    Listen to uplifting or inspiring music.

8.    Wear bright colors to uplift your mood.

9.    Do your favorite thing indoors that is constructive to make yourself happy, whether it’s a hobby, social networking, or just plain singing a song.

10.    Make a list of things you’d like to accomplish during the winter season and see to it that they are done. Looking forward to something is always uplifting feeling.

So, enjoy your winter!

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Benda Bilili: The Miracle in Congo

When a real fairy tale comes true, its magic touches everyone!

Such is the story about Staff Benda B‎ilili, a sensational group of disabled musicians living off the streets of Kinshasa, Congo. Their story of survival and rise to fame as musicians was recorded in the documentary "Benda Bilili", filmed over the course of five years by Renaud Barret and Florent de la Tullaye. The documentary appeared in Cannes Film Festival in 2010, an inspiring film for all those who believe that nothing is beyond the impossible.

The name of the group, 'Benda Bilili', which mean “beyond appearances”, has a profound  meaning. The band consists of four disabled middle-aged men, formed by Ricky Lickabu and Coco Ngambali, as singers/guitarist who suffered from poliomyelitis when they were young and backed by a younger rhythm section consisting of abandoned street children. The ingenuity of the band is that some members created their own unique instruments made of tins, cans, sticks and wood. One young 19 year-old member, Roger Landu, designed an electrified one-stringed lute out of a tin can. They have natural talent in composing songs and writing lyrics. The wonderful music they produce is described as a mixture of rumba, blues and reggae.

They used to live around the zoo in Kinshasa, sleep on cardboard  and play their music in the  streets. It was by chance, Vincent Kenis, a Belgian record producer specialising in Congolese music, heard them playing in front of a restaurant. Kenis arranged for the band to record their debut album, Tres Tres Fort ("Very Very Strong"), which was released in March 2009. Since then, they have been on tour around the world. 

Band member Coco Yakala once said, “One day, we will be the most famous disabled men in all of Africa.” It looks like they are on their way!

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Smile like a baby!

Why do you smile back at a baby?

Whether you're young, old, rough, gentle, male or female, your heart melts when a baby beams a smile at you.  You turn soft in face of a genuine smile of innocence, warmth, and purity of heart and mind.

Babies naturally smile during sleep or in the process of falling asleep from the day they’re born. An interesting inborn behavior that is void of emotional content. After a month, babies smile in response to social interaction - auditory stimuli before visual. It’s delightful to watch a small curve of the lips signaling the beginning of a developmental journey that transforms an innate reflex into an expression of joy.

Why do we smile?

In our complex society, people smile for all sorts of reasons, only one of which is to signal happiness. Many kinds of smiles come from our feelings – the fear smile, the dampened smile, the contempt smile, the miserable smile, nervous smile, etc.

Psychologist Dr David Lewis said that a happy smile can trigger powerful emotions that help us remember other happy events and make us feel good  -  optimistic, positive and motivated. He also pointed out that a fake smile can be detected and construed as untrustworthy and hypocritical.

This is what French anatomist Duchenne de Boulogne wrote about the happy smile: “The emotion of frank joy is expressed on the face by the combined contraction of the zygomaticus major muscle and the orbicularis oculi.” He also concluded that “… fake joy, the deceitful laugh, cannot provoke the contraction of this latter muscle.. . .The muscle around the eye does not obey the will; it is only brought into play by a true feeling, by an agreeable emotion.”

In the Scientific American article, The Mirror Neuron Revolution: Explaining What Makes Humans Social, neuroscientist Marco Iacoboni explains: “. .. we are hardwired to smile, a real smile can’t be faked and it is contagious because our brains have mirror neurons that make us “simulate” within ourselves the states of others around us.”

As a universal language expressed in the form of a gesture that greets and welcomes other people, a smile can make all the difference in the world. It creates an atmosphere of unity and camaraderie. A smile of joy brings sunshine to the sad, hope to the discouraged, and rest to the weary.

Most importantly, a smile is contagious, just like laughter. So, pass it on…

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